Monday, 31 August 2015

It is fascinating for me (even if for nobody else) to re-read these old posts from the Catholic Dads wwwsite. The first of today's links is particularly interesting, as Bernie has now finished University, had a year of travelling, and is leaving home this week to move away and start her first proper (as opposed to holiday) job. The second, and indeed the fifth, are also given a new perspective by the fact that Ant is now happily married. Bernie Hits 18Difficult ConversationsYouCatTeaching ModestyVocations

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

These posts linking to my old series on the Catholic Dads' wwwsite, about Keeping Your Kids Catholic are attracting lots of hits, so I imagine people are finding them useful.Therefore I will continue to post five links at a time,whenever I have time to compile them.Here is the next (slightly eclectic) set of posts.Catholic MindsBooks for Catholic KidsLove of ScriptureCatholic Family LifeNothing is Too DifficultPerhaps I should collect them all together and offer them to the CTS as a booklet?...

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

YCA National Weekend at Aylesford -in Association with the Scola Gregoriana of Cambridge

2015 Theme: “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.”Attributed to Saint Dominic.

Set in the heart of Kent, England, The Friars - Aylesford Priory - is an ancient religious house of the Order of Carmelites dating back to the 13th Century. Over the centuries and now today The Friars has become the destination for thousands of visitors. Fr. Gregory Pearson and noted author Donel Foley will be giving talks.

At the 2015 Young Catholic Adult Weekend, there will be:

Sung/High Masses (EF),

Gregorian Chant Workshops,

Talks,

Rosaries,

Confessions,

Marian Procession,

Socials.

To book on to the weekend please go to the automated booking system here.

Please note Aylesford Priory have a booking deadline of 18th September, otherwise they reserve the right to release rooms for sale to other guests as required. Also they do not allow last minute refunds so any non-arrivals and/or cancellations made up to 3 days before the event will be non-refundable.

Monday, 3 August 2015

The comment by Ttony on my blog about lying to save lives, seems to me to be the nearest we have yet come to a solution to this dilemma. He uses the Just War argument as an analogy.To tease that out a little further, it seems clear to me that just wars were possible before Just War theory was properly articulated.By the same token, perhaps what we see in the exposure of Planned Parenthood's evil, by way of means involving subterfuge, is a just lie, even though we have not yet been able clearly to argue a Just Lie theory.Just as it seems clear to most people that the war against the Nazis had to be fought, for to fail to do so would have been collusion with a great evil, so one could argue that exposing the deception of Planned Parenthood had to be done, to avoid colluding with a worse evil.I'm nearly there.But I'm not quite.Interestingly, it seems that in the original draft of the recent Catechism of the Catholic Church, the version that was first published in French, it included in its definition of a lie that a lie was committed when one deceived someone who had a right to the truth. That would have settled it. However, when the official Latin text was released, that clause had been removed. Clearly, in the editing and checking process, it had been found that there was not a sufficient consensus that such a clause accurately reflected Catholic teaching.So, perhaps a straw in the wind, but on the other hand, one that was rejected...My moral intuition tells me that no sin was committed in the deception of Planned Parenthood staff to reveal the evil at the heart of the organisation, but my intellect still isn't sure. And taking the Just War argument a little further may help to explain why.The Second World War, I think most would agree, met the criteria for a just war, from the point of view of the Allies. However, that does not mean that all that the Allies did was justified. I think the dropping of the atom bombs was morally illegitimate, as was the blanket bombing of Dresden.Moreover, there is always the risk, inherent in war, I think, that we demonise the enemy, when our instructions are to love our enemies.And I further believe that the Allies' damaged themselves by the way in which they conducted some aspects of the war; a moral compromise that has borne bad fruits in Western Europe and the USA ever since. But again, that is more an intuition than something I can make a strong rational case for.So I remain conflicted: I still feel that lying in this case was probably justifiable, though I cannot quite see how to justify it, theologically. I remain deeply convinced that lying is dangerous and normally damaging to the one who lies, and that any sin, however trivial, is simply wrong. Further, I am very wary of the precedent we set when we lie for a good cause, and the risk of a slippery slope if we erode our fundamental understanding of the natural law. And there is that risk that in order to justify our actions we demonise Planned Parenthood as the enemy...Let me be quite clear: I am not condemning the actions of those who made the films: I am exploring my own moral understanding and the limitations thereof - and anyone who can help me clarify it further will be very welcome!

Sunday, 2 August 2015

OK, I know I shouldn't. But this is the first time today (though I realise, that like cigarettes, it is the first Tina Beattie fisk of the day that is the hardest to give up).

Here is what the Professor says, in a comment on the Pill's rather prejudicial reporting of Edmund Adamus' reflection on the Westminster responses to the pre-Synod questionnaire.My comments interpolated in Bold."Like most other Catholics I know, I respect the Church’s teaching on marriage and parenthood. (What do you imagine she means [or even thinks she means] by 'respect' in that sentence, given what follows?) I also know from experience that marriage and family life can induce agonies of guilt over our inevitable failures and shortcomings. However, I do not experience guilt (and that is the criterion...) over deciding in good conscience (What do you think she means by 'in good conscience' in this sentence?) to use contraception to limit the number of children we had. I do not feel ashamed of my adult children for cohabiting with partners who have enriched our lives by their friendship. (How, precisely, does the good Professor square this easy acceptance of adultery with Our Lord's very clear teaching on the subject, never mind the Church's?) I do not feel compelled to pass negative judgement on the loving relationships of my gay friends. (Note the circumlocution to avoid the real problem. It is not 'loving relationships' but 'sexual relationships' that is at issue.) I am glad that some of my divorced Catholic friends have found joy in second marriages, and I want to share the sacraments with them. (Where is the compassion for the abandoned spouses and children? How does this square with Our Lord's very clear teaching on the subject, never mind the Church's?) In other words, I’m like the vast majority of Catholics whose answers to the questionnaire have been made public. (Quite possibly so: in which case Adamus' analysis that we need better formation is spot on.)I seek from the Church the formation I know I need most (because I am the ultimate judge, the ultimate authority on ME) – formation that has to do with love and generosity of spirit, with faithfulness and integrity, with wisdom and discretion, with prayer and discernment. (Quite a good list, actually...) The list is long, but it does not include learning to regard contraception, premarital sex and homosexuality as intrinsically evil, (Who says it should not include Catholic Moral Teaching? And on what authority?) nor does it include regarding divorced and remarried Catholics as people uniquely barred from the forgiveness offered by Christ in the sacraments. (This is either extremely ignorant or intellectually dishonest. All are offered forgiveness on the same terms: Sacramental confession, accompanied by repentance from sin, including making right what can be made right, penance, and a firm resolution of amendment.)"All in all, a very poor apologia. I think that she should sit at Adamus' feet and seek a formation that has to do with love and generosity of spirit, with faithfulness and integrity, with wisdom and discretion, with prayer and discernment.

Saturday, 1 August 2015

One of Anna's friends told her yesterday of a dreadful incident. Her five year old daughter had just had her bath and her husband picked up the towel to dry her. At which point the girl said: "You mustn't touch me!"It transpired the girl had had a sex education lesson at school...Anna's friend was furious and told the school so, withdrawing her from all future lessons on the topic: but some harm is already done to this child - and to countless others.Doubtless there are children whose fathers cannot be trusted: but to plant such ideas of mistrust of their families in the hearts of five year olds is to rob them of their innocence. This particular child is one of those who ask 'why?' about everything - so who knows what she was told.The school concerned is well known to be a 'good Catholic' school.Sancta Maria purissima: Ora pro nobis.

About Me

Secretive (eg my wife doesn't know I'm writing this blog)
Mendacious (eg my name isn't really Ben Trovato - that comes from an Italian saying: Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato - if it's not true, it's well found (or made up, as we'd say.))
Superficial (I have an interest in almost everything, and can pass myself off as knowing a lot more than I do...)
Self-deluding (my wife probably does know about this blog by now...)
For the record, my kids aren't really called Antonia, Bernadette, Charlie and Dominique either... It would seem unfair to write about them under their true names, so ABCD seemed a good idea. My wife's not Anna either, but again the AB pattern seemed pleasing.